04-05-2025
How did conservative candidates fare in Tarrant County area elections?
Several candidates backed by conservative groups lost their election bids on Saturday.
The seats on the ballot are nonpartisan positions, but True Texas Project and Patriot Mobile Action are among the right-leaning groups that have waded into recent elections, backing conservative candidates and policies.
True Texas Project, which is listed as an antigovernmental group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, recommended 31 candidates for school board, city government and other local offices. They went a step further and endorsed three: Cary Cheshire for Tarrant County College Trustee and incumbents Tammy Nakamura for Grapevine-Colleyville school board and Charlie Lauersdorf for Fort Worth City Council. Only Lauersdorf won.
Seventeen of its recommended candidates lost, and one race is headed into a runoff.
Among the conservative candidates to lose was Julie Short, who trailed incumbent Mayor Michael Evans, who was seeking his third term. The role of right wing politics came up on the campaign trail leading up to Election Day in the North Texas suburb.
'Mayor Michael Evans ran a positive, honorable campaign & is beating Julie Short handily,' said Matt Angle, founder of the Lone Star Project in a post on X. The group works to elect Democrats to office. 'Short invited MAGA haters armed with outsider $$ into her campaign, and they torpedoed her chances.'
In Grapevine-Colleyville, Nakamura lost to Matt Foust. Patriot Mobile Action spent much of its resources in recent months backing Nakamura's reelection bid. The political committee arm of a Christian conservative wireless provider has gotten involved in several local school board races in the past.
Cheshire had support from several conservative groups, but lagged well behind his opponent for Tarrant County College Trustee, Veronica Chavez Law.
Of the 26 candidates endorsed by the Tarrant County Republican Party, 11 won and one is headed to a runoff.
The Tarrant County Democratic Party published a list of approved candidates on social media, which in some cases included multiple candidates bidding for the same position. Of the 21 approved candidates, eight won and 12 lost. One is headed to a runoff.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
